So these are pictures of the first board I ever made and it has been a long long road. I “finished” this board today after alot of problems, which were mainly due to my lack of experience and lack of equipment.
The board required two complete hotcoats and sandings because there were still alot of sand throughs after the first hotcoat and one portion of the second hotcoat didn’t really gel well. I thought all I had to do was a little sanding today but after sanding it down alot I noticed a bunch of “gummies” and I also have spots where there are swirls in the sanding. Should I do another thinned out hotcoat or just buy some gloss coat and do that? Or should I just say f#ck it and surf this thing?
Last, how does this thing look for a first board. I would love constructive criticism.
you need to ask yourself, is it worth it to do more work on this or is it better to start a new board and learn from the mistakes you have made on this board and apply it to the next. i think it looks great for a first board. keep it up and keep learning. surf it . see how it rides, adjust, improve, go through the brain farts and headaches, than repeat. as for criticism, nose and tail look a little fat, just take your time building a good template will lead to a good shape a good shape will lead to a good lamination, which leads to a good hot coat, and a nice sand. Take you time as i so often choose not to haha. its all about having fun. The most important part is YOU BUILT IT! go out in the water and be proud of it.
You need to improve your sanding abilities. The weave showing doesn't matter as much as the scratches. You could do what I call a "piss coat", but not until you get rid of those scratches. Even if you gloss as suggested above you will still need to get rid of the scratches.
As others said, you need to improve your sanding technique. All those deep scratches will still register right through a gloss coat. So, if cosmetic appearance is a concern I suggest more sanding by hand, with lighter grit. It looks like you tried to be too aggressive with the sander. Sand-throughs and deep scratches come from impatience, usually. Take your time.
It is a thinned down second hotcoat. Five or ten percent acetone, a dash of styrene in Sanding resin. Sanded by hand fine grit. 320, 400 or 600. Preferably wet. But not until the scratches are gone. even "secret sauce" (floor wax or sealer) will most likely make the weave go away, but not the scratches. PS surfiber---If you take a nozzle and an air compressor to that board and blow it off the sanding resin will come out of all those little pits and pinholes.
Not sure, but you may want to have some nice soft clean rack covers for your finish work - looks like you have enough build up to mess up a smooth surface.
Not the method preferred by many, but I like my @ 6"x3" flat random orbital sander for finish sanding - pretty rare to make those deep scratches…
keep the power tools away from the rails!!!Other than that welcome to the world of board building and the frustration associated with it. Offer your friends some cheap ding repair. It will give you plenty of practice with a sander.
Howzit surfiber,What I do is brush styrene on the areas just before hitting it with some resin, don't let the styrene dry before brushing on the resin. All the scratches and weave will dissapear just like that,happens all the time when working with pigment and tints. Aloha,Kokua
By the way; I think you did a very good job over all. Good shape, outline and rail. The free lap and glass job is good. You just need improvement on the finish end of the process. Got a little rough with it is all. Go slower on the finish end next time.
Yeah, slow down…step away from the big powerful tools for the next one and learn to use your hands first. That will help you develop a better “feel” for things. At least it did for me and that was possibly the best advise I received when I started. After just a few boards the improvements in your work can be really significant. But I agree that board is a good start. I keep My #1 in my shaping shed, where I can see it. Reminds me how far I’ve come in 35 boards. Now I’m still very far from perfect but I’m very proud of my work! Keep after it!!!
So what should I do for my sanding next time? Do you use a hard sanding block? Soft pad and work it by hand?
For the nose and areas where the tape made little dams on the rails I used a fine rasp and a file to work those areas down and then I went over it with my sander.
Use a a variable speed sander with a medium or soft pad for the flats. The key is to dial down the RPM s and start with a sandpaper grit that is suitable for the quality of your hotcoat. Poorer thicker hotcoat = coarser grit. You should have a decent enough hotcoat that you can start with no coarser than 180. A really good hotcoat you can go straight to 220 and then work thru 320, 400 or 600. How far you go depends on your ability and how sucessful you are at getting rid of swirl marks and scratches. My personal opinion is that if done well anything over 600 is overkill. File your tape line and hard edge. Flats with the sander. Rails by hand. That should do it. A nice level adequate but not too thin hotcoat is very important.
